Work, work, work...LOL

Here I am on Friday afternoon...no body at church working but me. Tisha left earlier after spending time helping Stacy (Welburn) begin to get comfortable in the office. Pastor Mark took the day off. Dave finished his work earlier. I knew MaryAnn was off preparing for a big week end at church. I have already made many contacts this week. I have made 14 home and hospital visits. Now I am taking a moment to blog. Yesterday was an interesting day! After a non eventful trip to the dentist I stopped by to see some new church friends and an older one. Then I picked up Anita and two fairly irregular members of church who have both lost their spouses in the recent past. The four of us made a trip down to Rural King to buy birdseed. Then we stopped for lunch at one of my favorite lunch spots for tenderloins and PIE. (Since I love pie, I don't know how I am ever going to get under 200 lbs again!!!) Any way we had a great time and caught up on some old memories.

Sometimes, I've found, lonely folks just need someone to value them. They often have lost some of the valuable things or people in their lives and just need to be needed. If you know someone who is alone, call them, stop by to see them and if possible have a meal with them. The loneliest time for people is when they have to sit and eat alone!

May God always grant you peace and allow you to be surrounded by those who care about YOU!

In His Service,

Roger

Chamber of Commerce Legislative Meeting

Early this morning I rousted myself out of bed to attend the February Chamber of Commerce breakfast. I wanted to go because I am on the Chamber Board representing our church and because it was the "Legislative Meeting." Movers and shakers from our community are always there for this meeting to hear what's going on and to express their opinions. State Representatives and Senators are busy this year with over 1250 bills introduced! However, Bob Cherry, Sean Eberhart, and Mike Crider took time to be in attendance with us today. We heard about how the main job of the legislature this session is developing a state budget. Representative Cherry reported that we will continue to strive to maintain a balanced budget while attending to the needs of the state. The biggest single expense at 65% is education. Bob said they are working to try to adjust the state funding formula to be more fair to all students in Indiana. Presently, some of the lowest achieving schools receive the most money per pupil. He stated, "We want to fund education, especially at the loweer levels, because if we lose the kids there...they seldom recover. We end up funding them in the prison systems and we don't want to build more prisons." He also said HB 1004 and HB 1005 would benefit teachers with tax credits and expectant mothers through health education. Mike Crider focused on the bills which would promote funding for preventing domestic violence and increase penalties for violent offenders of crime.
During questions and answers State Superintendent Glenda Ritz came up. Again Bob Cherry did an excellent job of explaining what was going on there. He said that at present only Indiana and Oklahoma assign the State Superintendent as the "Chair" of the Department of Education. Most states allow the Department to elect their own chair. The recent HB 1609 sought to allow our state to allow that department to elect their own chairman. The bill in no way removes the "powers" from the State Superintendent. His analogy was comparing the Southern Hancock Board and Superintendent to Indiana's. The role of the board is to create parameters for school to follow. Then the superintendent's role is to see that they are implemented and carried out. It made sense to me. According to Bob, Superintendent Ritz went outside the board and wrote letters to every school district stating the ISTEP testing was to be three times longer than before. Governor Pence stepped to say he would not allow that to happen. As a retired school principal, we already were taking 4 - 6 days to complete testing. Adding more would be ludicrous. He said for more information google, (Gordon Henry, Ritz, State Board).
Mr. Eberhart responded to a question about the ICC, the Interstate Connector Corridor. He was adamately against it and said he would fight tooth and nail to stop it. It was the idea to connect I70 on the west side of Indy to I69 all the way around the south side while connecting I69, I65, I74, I70, and finally I69. Much debate has taken place in the past about the route it might take. At present there is no legislation for this endeavor. It seems the fervor against this possibility has not died down however.
Over all it was a good breakfast meeting and very informative. I, however, may need an afternoon nap today!

On my way to Hancock Regional Hospital now to pray with one of our church constituents.

In His Service,

Roger

All is Well

It was another early (well earlier than normal) Monday morning. I missed prayer breakfast at Jae-Rae's so I could be with Pam Komendo at Community South Hospital. Her surgery was scheduled for 10:00a.m. and she needed to be there by 8:30. In order to get into the prep area and pray with her and Jay, Anita wanted to be there by 8:00ish. So we went extra early. First, it was icy first thing this morning. We took the 40 minute drive slow and made it there in about 50 minutes. Next, we realized we weren't sure if she would be at the "Surgery Center" or the actual hospital. After (of course) trying the wrong place first, we made it. Then we waited about an hour before they had her prepped for surgery so we could go see her. It was all good though. Wanda Matteson was also there to support her friend so we all had a prayer together. The surgery was short so she was out in about 1 1/2 hours. Her doctor was very happy with the result and said she was doing fine. She is scheduled to come home today so "ALL IS WELL." (Well, except for Jay...Jay is just...Jay!)